Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

Socialize

Bay Area Brewfest This Weekend

By

The second annual Bay Area Brewfest will be taking place this Saturday, from Noon until 6:00 p.m., at the San Mateo Event Center. I went to last year’s event, which was pretty good for a first time festival, well-organized and with a decent turnout. So I have high hopes for their sophomore effort and the music lineup makes it look like it could be a lot of fun. Sponsored by the radio station, “The Bone” 107.7, all five bands are tribute bands. There’s The Unauthorized Rolling Stones, Zepparella (Led Zeppelin), Gator Alley (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Petty Theft (Tom Petty), and Texas Holdem (Stevie Ray Vaughan).

Tickets are @25 at the gate or $20 in advance and can be ordered online. See you there.

Beerfest in Santa Rosa

By

This was the 16th annual Santa Rosa Beerfest, which is a benefit for Face to Face, a Sonoma County AIDS charity. What’s fun about this festival and what sets it apart is two things. First there’s the emphasis on local beer and food producers. Second, and most importantly in my opinion, is the way they treat food. There are as many, perhaps more, food stands than beer stands. And for your admission price you get unlimited samples of both food and beer. That means you can choose a food and a beer to pair, and try endless combination of pairings right there on the spot. More festivals should adopt this method, because it’s a terrific way to really show just how good beer and food are together. I can write about it until I’m blue in the fingers, and you can try single pairing after pairing, but to have an opportunity to mix and match like this is priceless and a fantastic learning experience. Plus, the equal emphasis on food alleviates the drunkenness that sometimes accompanies lesser festivals. Anyway, it was a great day — perfect weather — and I had a great time talking with friends, eating and drinking and listening to live music. After the festival I was so full, I didn’t have another bite for the rest of the day. I was satiated and satisfied.

Rebecca and Fraggle, inveterate festival-goers, at this year’s Santa Rosa Beerfest.

Two from Russian River Brewing, co-owner Natalie (center) and as many times as I’ve met this gentlemen I can’t remember his name, along with Brian Hunt from Moonlight Brewing (right).

For more photos from this year’s Santa Rosa Brewfest, visit the photo gallery.

Session #4: Local Brews

By

Today is our fourth Session a.k.a beer Blogging Friday and the theme is something of a departure from our usual topic. This month’s host is the Gastronomic Fight Club from Omaha, Nebraska, and they’ve chosen “Local Brews” as the theme, describing his goal as wanting to “create a guide book of tasting notes to drinking local.”

As I often do, I decided to tackle the theme literally, and so I went to the closest brewery, which is Moylan’s, a mere 1.7 miles from my home (2.3 if you take the freeway) in Novato, California.

We moved to the town of Novato in northern Marin in late December, just over five months ago. We sold our condo in San Rafael for a small house, but one with a yard for the kids and no more stairs (our condo was on four levels. After a while, it began to feel like we were living in an Escher drawing.) Condo life was also impersonal, and we craved more of a community and neighborhood feel to where we lived.

Novato is a relatively small (population approx. 50,000) bedroom community with a small downtown area. It was only established in 1960, making the town one-year younger than I am! We live only two blocks from the main downtown street, Grant Avenue. In the few months we’ve been here, it’s been far more enjoyable than the three years we lived in San Rafael. We can walk to a lot of places, which is great. One place that’s a little far, unfortunately, is the town’s only brewery.

Moylan’s is located on the outskirts, so to speak, a part of our only really big shopping center, Rowland Plaza, along with a Costco, Target, Staples, a multi-screen movie theatre and many other chain stores. It was built and opened in 1995 by Brendan Moylan, a Novato resident. Moylan also opened nearby Marin Brewing six years earlier, in 1989. In addition to the brewpub and full pub menu at the brewery, there is also a production facility where Moylan’s and Marin Brewing bottle several of their popular beers in 22 oz. bottles.

I had thought about going to Moylan’ for lunch, but I just couldn’t get it together and so didn’t manage to get there until around four in the afternoon. At that late hour I didn’t expect anyone to be in the brewery itself, but happily Moylan’s new head brewer Denise Jones was still there. She recently replaced James Costa who left to work at E.J. Phair. Denise has been brewing commercially for many years and is probably most well-known for her years at Third Street Aleworks in Santa Rosa. She poured us a beer and sat down with me to chat.

I told her about “The Session” and this months theme as we tried the Pomegranate Wheat, a beer that James Costa first made last year. Denise had told me she’s been increasing the amount of fruit and lowering the IBUs so I wanted to taste the difference. Indeed, it did taste more “juicy” and had a nice sweetness that wasn’t at all cloying.

Next, I tried their ESB on cask, but unfortunately it was oxidized. Denise confessed they’ve been having a problem with the line and she’s working on fixing it. In the meantime, I also tried the ESB from a regular carbonated tap and also the nitrogen line. It was interesting to have the same beer from three different delivery systems. Oxidation aside, the cask version naturally was the smoothest of the three, though the Nitrogen one was a pretty close second. No matter how many times I try it, I’m amazed every single time how much better cask beer is, especially when you can do a direct comparison. Not that Moylan’s ESB was bad, but even the oxidized cask was almost preferable to the harsh, forced CO2 of the regular version.

Denise brought up one aspect of drinking locally that had not occurred to me before. She suggested that one reason people preferred their local brew was that it was made with the same water that was already familiar to them and that familiarity made it automatically taste more unconsciously recognizable and thus was preferable on a visceral level. It reminds me of the way your Mom’s home cooking tastes better, not because it actually is better than a five-star restaurant, but because it has that familiarity, a certain nostalgia perhaps, that makes it taste better than it really ought to. Given that water, like human beings when you get right down to it, are mostly water it does make a certain kind of sense. I’m kicking myself that it hadn’t occurred to me before now. Many beers are rightly famous in part because of what the local water source added to the beer’s flavor, but that would be true of almost everything affected by the local water, from food cooked in it to the simple tap water you drink day after day.

After a pair of session beers, I decided to go out with a bang and for my final beer decided on Ryan O’Sullvan’s Imperial Stout. It’s a style I’m already fond of and I’ve had the beer before but I don’t order it on draft often enough. It’s a mighty fine beer and at 10% abv packs quite a wallop. It’s thick and viscous, something on the order 10W-30, and very full-flavored with hints of berries and roasted coffee. It’s a great sipping beer that deserves to be enjoyed slowly so it’s ever-increasing complexity come through as it warms. It was a nice beer to finish with and I sat and savored it after Denise left for her commute home to Napa.

Here’s a list of all the beers Moylan’s currently has on tap at the brewpub. The descriptions are their own. A dozen or more of their regular and seasonal beers are also available in 22 oz. bottles throughout the Bay Area and Califoria generally, as well as parts of Arizona, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington.

BEERS CURRENTLY ON TAP AT MOYLAN’S
 

  • Unfiltered Wheat – A Light and Refreshing American Style Wheat Ale. 4.5%
  • Pomegranate Wheat – Tasty Unfiltered Wheat blended with Pomegranate Juice that makes perfect Summer afternoon treat 5.0%
  • Extra Special Bitter – Our Traditional English Style Bitter. This one is served on Co2 for a slightly more bitter finish. Enjoy! 5.2%
  • Moylan’s Special Bitter – Our Traditional English Style Bitter served on Nitrogen for Smooth Maltiness and a Creamy Finish. 5.2%
  • Tipperary Pale Ale– Our Award Winning Classic Style Pale Ale. It’s slightly hoppy with smooth, subtle malty finish. 5.0%
  • India Pale Ale – This American Style IPA is Slightly Malty with an aggressive Hop flavor crisp finish, that leaves you wanting another. 6.5%
  • Moylander Double IPA – This Ale has received a score of 97 points and a rating of SUPERLATIVE at the World Beer Championships in Chicago. Huge and Hoppy, Thick and Hearty . . . not faint of heart! 8.5%
  • Hopsickle Triple IPA – A homage to hops with an Ale that stimulates the taste buds with the blast of Tomahawk, Cascade and Centennial hops. 9.2%
  • Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale – “FIRST PLACE CALIFORNIA STATE FAIR 2005 & 2006” Our Flagship Beer! Traditional Scottish “Wee Heavy” Ale is Big, Rich, and Malty, with a Warm Finish. 8.0%
  • Old Blarney Barley Wine – HUGE malt flavors with a big hop kick, this heavy ale is not for faint of heart! 10%
  • Irish Dry Stout – A classic Irish style dry stout. Rich and Creamy with a roasted character finishes smooth and dry. Served on N2 4.8%
  • Imperial Stout – A Monster Stout with a Warming Smooth Malty Finish and Hints of Roasted Coffee and Chocolate. 10.0%
  • Cask Conditioned Ales – Irish dry stout & extra special bitter.

Rob Tod Rocks the House

By

Rob Tod, the owner/founder of Allagash Brewing of Portland, Maine, was in San Francisco Friday for a beer dinner at the Cathedral Hill Hotel. Bruce Paton, the Beer Chef, put on his usual spectacular fête and the meal and pairings worked magnificently. All of Allagash’s beers are in a Belgian-style, though most are quite experimental. Rob Tod really worked the crowd and made a great impression both with his stories and his beer. Having missed Valley Brewing’s dinner last month, it was great to enjoy another of Bruce’s dinners. There were a number of friends there and a great time was had by one and all.

Rob Tod had the crowd in the palm in his hand talking about his beers.

The Main dish, cutlets of slow roasted lamb with fingerling potato risotto and bing cherry compote, which was paired with Allagash Inoculator. Inoculator is a “one-off” beer made almost by accident. It started with their triple, aged in bourbon barrels with cherries from their local market added. The yeast they used was from Rodenbach and helped create a delightful 9.5% beer.

Dave Keene, from the Toronado, won a raffle at the dinner to support a local chef’s organization. One of the items in his prize basket was “Shrimp flavored Chips.”

James Costa, from E.J. Phair Brewing, offers some to his wife, Caroline. Wisely, she declined. The smell alone was enough to produce a gag reflex.

Rob Tod, on the other hand, was brave enough to actually eat them.

Chef Bruce stopped by our table. From left, Dave Keene, Vinnie Cilurzo (from Russian River), Arne Johnson (from Marin Brewing), James Costa and his wife Caroline, and Rob Tod.

Chef Bruce also brought us a special bottle of Malheur Brut Reserve, Michael Jackson Commemorative Selection 2006. Yum.

The Malheur (at right) also worked well with the dessert, Banana Upside Down Cake with Butterscotch Mascarpone, though the official pairing, Allagash Curieux, was inspired. Curieux is a tripel aged in Jim Beam barrels.

Chef Bruce and Rob Tod, who respectively provided the food and beer for our dinner.

Malin Palssoa and Eric Schiff (from San Francisco Brewing), fans of the Bulletin at the dinner. At least I think that’s their names, I had trouble reading my own handwriting the next day.

Enjoying some Blind Pig IPA at the hotel bar after the dinner, Rob Tod and me.

Raley Field Brewfest

By

The first Raley Field Brewfest was put on by the Northern California Brewer’s Guild in an effort to raise funds for the fledgling organization. It was a good first fest at a great setting with perfect weather, especially for Sacramento. Because it was a festival by brewers for their own benefit, attendance was better than usual for a first-time event, and there were several breweries who rarely make an appearance at festivals, which made it more interesting than ones with only the usual suspects.

Brian Ford, who returns to the brewing community June 1, when his Auburn Alehouse Brewery & Restaurant is exected to open, with Glynn Phillips, owner of Rubicon and the festival organizer.

Melissa Myers, brewer at Drake’s, serving festival-goers.

Peter Hoey, from Sacramento Brewing, and Steve Altimari, from Valley Brewing.

For many more photos from the Raley Field Brewfest, visit the photo gallery.

West Coast Brew Fest Awards Announced

By

The results of the West Coast Beer Festival Commercial Competition have been announced. The winners are listed below. Each line below contains the category or style judged under the broad heading above it, the beer name, the brewery and where it’s located.
 

1. Light Lager

  1. German Pils, Pilsner, Radeberger, Germany
  2. Maibock, Maibock, Sequoia, Fresno, CA
  3. Helles, Lincoln Lager, Beermann’s, Roseville, CA

2. Dark Lager

  1. Schwarzbier, Black Lager, Krusovic, Czech Republic
  2. Vienna, Luna De Miele, SBC, Sacramento, CA
  3. Vienna, Dreher Vienna, River City, Sacramento, CA

3. Amber Ale

  1. Red Ale, Woodenhead Red, River City, Sacramento, CA
  2. Amber Ale, Thunderhead , Sequoia, Fresno, CA
  3. Red Ale, Winter Ale, Shipyard, Portland, ME

4. Light Ale

  1. American Wheat, Marin Hefewies, Marin, Larkspur Landing, CA
  2. Blonde Ale, Cascade, Deschutes, Bend, OR
  3. Cream Ale, Cream Gold, Sequoia, Fresno, CA

5. American Pale Ale

  1. American Pale Ale, Fire Rock, Kona, Kona, HI
  2. American Pale Ale, Slough House, Elk Grove, Elk Grove, CA
  3. American Pale Ale, Mt Tam, Marin, Larkspur Landing, CA

6. English Pale Ale

  1. English Pale Ale, Chamberlain, Shipyard, Portland, ME
  2. ESB, Old Thumper, Shipyard, Portland, ME
  3. English Pale Ale, Scapegoat, Big Sky, Missoula, MT

7. India Pale Ale

  1. India Pale Ale, IPA, Marin, Larkspur Landing, CA
  2. India Pale Ale, General Sherman, Sequoia, Fresno, CA
  3. India Pale Ale, Inversion , Deschutes, Bend, OR

8. Brown Ale

  1. Mild Ale, Northern Mild, Brew It Up!, Sacramento, CA
  2. American Brown Ale, Moose Drool, Big Sky, Missoula, MT
  3. American Brown Ale, Downtown Brown, Lost Coast, Eureka, CA

9. Porter

  1. Brown Porter, Seadog Hazelnut, Shipyard, Portland, ME
  2. Robust Porter, Pt. Reyes, Marin, Larkspur Landing, CA
  3. Robust Porter, Plow Share, Lodi, Lodi, CA

10. Stout

  1. Oatmeal Stout, Oatmeal Stout, Brew It Up!, Sacramento, CA
  2. Sweet Stout, Grain Barrel, Elk Grove, Elk Grove, CA
  3. Foreign Extra, Industrial, Beermann’s, Roseville, CA

11. Wheat

  1. Hefewiezen, Hefewiezen, Blue Frog, Fairfield, CA
  2. Hefewiezen, Hefewiezen, Sequoia, Fresno, CA
  3. Hefewiezen, Umna Hefe, Lodi, Lodi, CA

12. Fruit Beer

  1. Fruit Beer, Orange Blossom, Lodi, Lodi, CA
  2. Fruit Beer, Raspberry Brown, Lost Coast, Eureka, CA
  3. Fruit Beer, Apricot Wheat, Shipyard, Portland, ME

13. Strong Ale

  1. Imperial Stout, Abyss, Deschutes, Bend, OR
  2. Strong Ale, Imperial Red, SBC, Sacramento, CA,
  3. Barley Wine, Bourbon Barrel BW, Beermann’s, Roseville, CA

14. Mixed

  1. California Common, California Common, Schooners, Antioch, CA
  2. Kolsch, Kolsch, Sequoia, Fresno, CA
  3. Alt, Alaskan Amber, Alaskan, Juneau, AK

15. Belgian Ales

  1. Wit, Allagash White, Allagash, Portland, ME
  2. Wit, Skinny Dip Wit, New Belgium, Ft. Collins, CO
  3. Belgian Dark Ale, 1554, New Belgium, Ft. Collins, CO

16. Cider

  1. Pear Cider, Pear Cider, Fox Barrel, Colfax, CA
  2. Pear Cider, Perry, Two Rivers, Sacramento, CA
  3. Apple Cider, Hard Cider, Fox Barrel, Colfax, CA

17. Other

  1. Eisbock Aged in Sherry Barrel, Barrel Aged Eisbock, Lodi, Lodi, CA
  2. Smoked Porter, Smoked Porter, Alaskan, Juneau, AK
  3. Coffee Stout, Coffee Stout, SBC, Sacramento, CA

 
Congratulations to all the award winners.

Eric Rose’s Hollister Brewery Open

By

For eight years, Eric Rose was the head brewer at Santa Barbara Brewing. And life was good. But Eric, like many brewers, dreamed of opening his own place one day. That day was Sunday, when his Hollister Brewing opened its doors to the public for the first time.

Situated in a modern strip mall setting in Goleta, a high-tech suburb of Santa Barbara, the new building, brewery and restaurant was built from scratch. I was in Santa Barbara over St. Patrick’s Day weekend (the missus had business that took her there for a long weekend) and hooked up with Eric for my regular column in Ale Street News, the Left Coaster. I’ve always liked Eric’s beers and feel like he often doesn’t get the recognition he deserves, despite winning awards for his Belgian-style beers and hoppy west coast IPAs.

Rose is installing a brand-new 10bbl system and will offer twelve of his own beers — all of them organic — in a wide range of styles along with eight guests taps featuring his friends’ beers. After he’s up and running, he also expects to start doing some barrel-aged beers in small quantities.

Also from my Ale Street News column:

His new brewpub, named Hollister Brewing Co. for the street in the Santa Barbara suburb of Goleta where it’s located, will be something of a Gastropub among chain restaurants. They’ll serve reasonably priced upscale food made for all-local ingredients prepared by the former chef from Bouchon, one of the most well-respected local restaurants. The menu will feature eclectic brew food with homemade sauces, specialty pizza and six daily lunch specials to cater to the high-tech industry nearby.

As Rose tells me, “there used to be a time when you had to choose between being green and good taste.” But now that you can have both, he believes more people will make the responsible choice that gives them both great taste and the feeling that they’re doing the right thing, too. Organic beers have truly come of age.

So far in the first few days he’s getting some good reviews from locals and the local paper, the Santa Barbara Independent has written favorably about the opening.

I’m really looking forward to tasting what Eric will be brewing at his new venture. If you visit Santa Barbara, be sure to stop by his new place and give it a try.

From the Independent article:

Located at the northeast corner of the Camino Real Marketplace in Goleta, the new brewery is replacing Camino Real Café. The three looked at a number of different locations, but decided on the Camino Real Marketplace because of the activity surrounding the area. “It’s a very important part of the Goleta Valley,” Rose said. With traffic being generated by a movie theater, Home Depot, Starbucks, and Borders, the trio envisions the brewery as another option for older college students and researchers to enjoy a nicer beer, as there is nothing of the sort in Goleta. The brewery has “enough TVs to make sports fans happy,” but is low-key enough that it isn’t a sports bar, Rose said.

Hollister Brewer Eric Rose in March.

All A-Gush for Allagash

By

Beer Chef Bruce Paton’s next beer dinner next year will feature brewmaster Rob Tod and the beers of Allasgash from Portland, Maine. It will be a four-course dinner and well worth the $85 price of admission. It will be held at the Cathedral Hill Hotel on Friday, May 25, 2007, beginning with a reception at 6:30 p.m. Call 415.674.3406 for reservations. Make your reservations soon, because the dinner, as usual, should fill up fast and this is yet another dinner you won’t want to miss.
 

The Menu:

 

Reception: 6:30 PM

Beer Chef’s Hors D’Oeuvre
Hugh Malone Ale

Dinner: 7:30 PM

First Course

Chef’s Selection of Cheeses with Traditional Accompaniments

Beer: Allagash Interlude

Second Course:

Medallions of Dayboat Scallop with Anise Cured California King Salmon, Fennel, Corn and Morel Mushrooms

Beer: Allagash Odyssey

Third Course:

Cutlets of Slow Roasted Lamb with Fingerling Potato Risotto and Bing Cherry Compote

Beer: Allagash Inoculator

Fourth Course:

Banana Upside Down Cake with Butterscotch Mascarpone

Beer: Allagash Curieux

Three of the beers that will be served at the Allagash Beer Dinner.

 
5.25

Dinner with the Brewmaster: Rob Tod of Allagash

Cathedral Hill Hotel, 1101 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, California
415.674.3406 [ website ]

Tomme “Moses” Arthur Releases 10 Commandments

By

Tomme “Moses” Arthur, Director of Brewing Operations for Port Brewing and the Lost Abbey, today announced their newest seasonal release. The new seasonal is called the Ten Commandments, a big, complex beer to mark their first anniversary.

From the press release:

While not exactly descending the mountain with two stone tables, Port Brewing / Lost Abbey’s award-winning brewmaster Tomme Arthur did make his mark on the craft beer world today with the release of Ten Commandments, a Belgian-style dark farmhouse brewed with raisins, fresh rosemary and honey. As an added twist, a secondary wild yeast was also added to the brew during bottling.

The craft brewer’s anniversary issue, Ten Commandments is a mocha-garnet-colored ale that offers a rich, rustic texture with strong notes of banana and fig, invoking the complexity and character of the artisanal beers of the southern Belgian countryside.
“I’ve always been inspired by the unpredictability and artistic style of Belgian ales like Fantôme’s Black Ghost,” said head brewer Tomme Arthur. “In creating Ten Commandments I wanted to emulate that perspective but add an unexpected touch. Using mercurial yeast like Brettanomyces in combination with raisins, herbs and honey delivers a pleasant, full-bodied profile and mélange of flavors unlike any other beer.”

Ten Commandments is 9 percent alcohol by volume and ships in 750ml cork-finished bottles. Brewed in limited quantities (280 cases in 2007) and released annually during the brewery’s anniversary, it is available directly from the brewery and in Port Brewing markets May through September.

About Port Brewing / Lost Abbey

Founded in 2006, Port Brewing Company produces a line of award-winning American ales as well as the groundbreaking Lost Abbey family of Belgian-inspired beers. Craft brewed under the direction of co-founder and two-time Great American Beer Festival brewer of the year, Tomme Arthur, four beers are issued under the Lost Abbey label year-round: Avant Garde, Lost and Found, Red Barn and Judgment Day. Additionally, a number of seasonal and specialty releases including Ten Commandments, Cuvee de Tomme and the Angel’s Share, are offered at various times throughout the year. As many of these are blended and aged for up to 18 months in French Oak, Brandy and Bourbon barrels, Lost Abbey beers are universally recognized for their complexity, unique flavors, and bold, boundary-pushing styles. Port Brewing is located at 155 Mata Way, Suite 104, San Marcos, CA 92069, USA., web: www.lostabbey.com.